Captain Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather. He lives with his wife Marcia, also known as the First Mate, their two dogs, and frequently watch their granddaughter Kayla, whom Captain Ed calls The Little Admiral... [read more]

CQ is honored to lend its platform to Merrilee Carlson, whose son Michael died in the service of our country in Iraq. Merrilee is the chair of Minnesota Families United, which wants to get the media to use the anniversary of the liberation of Iraq on April 9th to focus on the good works performed by Michael and his comrades.

Update: I was quite remiss in not linking to Patrick from Ankle Biting Pundits for arranging this blogosphere effort. Sorry, Patrick!

My Son Died to “Liberate People from Oppression” in Iraq

I was recently on captainsquarters reading your commentary about Jack Shafer’s study about slanted journalism. As for me, I don’t know what the reasons are, but I do now that many Americans have seemed to lose our resolve in the War on Terror, at least partly because of a steady diet of media negativism.

My son, Michael, served and died in Iraq fighting for a cause he believed in. I know for a fact that he believed the cause was honorable because he told me so when he wrote a personal credo that explained,

“I want to carve out a niche for myself in the history books. I want to be remembered for the things I accomplished. I sometimes dream of being a soldier in a war. In this war I am helping to liberate people from oppression...” Read more about Michael, including his entire credo here.

The mainstream media may have lost faith in the mission, but I haven’t forgotten that Michael – who’s friends called him Shrek – died to “liberate people from oppression.”

It sure would be nice to have the media use Iraqi Liberation Day on April 9th to remember all of the good things Michael and our troops have done in Iraq.

Towards that end, I’ve joined with other families (you can read more here) to send a letter that encourages the media to remember this historic milestone.